My pick for Racer of the Week is Shawn Earp from Fertigs, Pennsylvania. Shawn was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Don Turner. Thanks, Don! Shawn's graphic and feature has come in 3rd place all-time on Facebook for Likes and Shares. This speaks highly of Shawn's popularity among his fellow Racers. The Drag Race America Page that Shawn and Don are frequently featured is a great source of information, stories, pictures and people, and I highly recommend visiting the page when you're on the internet looking for updates. Shawn sent me the following information:
"I'm Shawn Earp, age 34, occupation machinist, married to Lisa Earp. We have two children: Ava Earp age 7 and Anna Earp age 3. My first car was a 75 monza that was my uncle's prior to my having it. I put a 400" sbc and some squeeze in and had a ball of fun with it. I've been wrenching since I was old enough to hold one. And driving since I could see over the wheel literally. My uncles and my dad would probably advise against me telling this but they used to carry a pillow for me to sit on, slide the seat up as far as it would go, plop me on the pillow and let me drive them all over the country side from the time I was about 7or 8 lol.
I raced atv's for a while but always came back to the drag racing. We street raced for a good many years with drag strips 2.5+ hours away that was what we did until I almost piled up my dad's car one night (no I didn't take it he was at the starting line lol) and that was the end of it. We bought a trailer and kept good tow vehicles and headed for the drag strip and haven't stopped since. This stuff is in my blood. My dad has a 71 nova with a 540 he's had the car for over 25 years with may others prior, my uncle has an 87 Buick regal with 455 Buick power also with many cars prior and I'm surrounded with friends that are into this stuff from a Valiant with a 572 BBM to a full chassis pro street 82 Malibu with a twin turbo LS.
This is what we do in NW PA. I am part of a small group that put together a drag racing series called DADs Streetcar Shootout. It's 4 classes: Outlaw Limited Street, Modified Street Outlaw, Street Outlaw, and True Street held at Quaker City Motorsports Park. We love heads up racing and that is what the series is all about! My current car I've had since I was about 20. It took me a few years to complete. It started out to be a pro street car and then things got out of hand lol. It's a 1969 chevy Camaro 4 link backhalf car built by myself, 3200lbs race weight, it has a 565 ci Brodix -3xtra 380's and an SV565, both ported by Eric Weingartner, cam shaft from Paul Klyzcek of PKRE, a Callies crank and rods, JE nitrous pistons, machine work by Travis Harry of Les Frickshun, all assembly work I do myself, it has two NX foggers flowed by Monte Smith, 1.80 powerglide, 29.5 x 10.5 tire, afco shocks by Menscer, my best et to date is 5.28@135 in the eighth-mile, 8.27@164 in the quarter-mile on one kit."
I would like to thank the sponsors of all these big events being involved personally with a racing series. You guys are the ones that make this stuff happen with the racers being a hard second! Thanks to my understanding wife and probably my biggest thanks to my dad without him i wouldn't have any of the knowledge I do today he is involved in about every part of my racing!! I really don't have any goals or accomplishments that I can think of i do this as a true passion or hobby I love it and will continue to do so whether I'm winning or losing."
That's Shawn Earp, folks. I noticed that he had his family first in his message. Shawn, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
I was talking with Danny White last week about the music I was going to talk about tonight and he suggested I give the history of the great American band from the early to mid 70s that was called Big Star. Danny doesn't agree with my comparison of Big Star to Badfinger as 2 bands that had absolutely beautiful music and songs but never made it to mainstream success. I agree with what he's saying, but I do see similarities in the two, even with different circumstances. Badfinger had some hits, but Big Star didn't. Badfinger was a British band and Big Star was from Memphis. But both bands lost both of their main songwriters, Badfinger to suicides and Big Star to an auto accident and illness many years after the band broke up. Anyway, now that I've got that out of the way with apologies to my buddy, here is the story of Big Star, the band from Memphis who made 3 of the most gorgeous albums I ever heard, who never got decent airplay and who ended up as a footnote in Rock History but whose influence has to this day inspired bands who made it big. But Big Star didn't make it.
The band was together between 1971 and 1974. They produced 3 albums, and they went down in history as the quintessential American Band, foreshadowing the alternative rock of the 90s by a good 20 years, and leaving a body of work that simply glows with beauty.
Alex Chilton was the lead singer for the blue-eyed soul group the Box Tops from 1967 to 1970, he scored a No. 1 hit with the song "The Letter" when he was sixteen. Following his stint with the Box Tops, he recorded a solo studio album. He was offered the role of lead vocalist for Blood, Sweat & Tears, but he turned the offer down as being "too commercial".
Chilton had known Chris Bell for some time: they both lived in Memphis, each had spent time recording music at Ardent Studios and each, when aged 13, had been struck by the music of the Beatles during the band's 1964 debut US tour. A song Chilton wrote nearly six years after he first witnessed a Beatles performance, "Thirteen", referred to the event with the line "Rock 'n' roll is here to stay". Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on Simon & Garfunkel; Bell declined, but invited Chilton to a performance by his own band, Icewater, comprising Bell, drummer Jody Stephens, and bassist Andy Hummel.
Attracted by Icewater's music, Chilton showed them his new song "Watch the Sunrise", and was immediately asked to join the band. Both "Watch the Sunrise" and "Thirteen" were subsequently included on Big Star's first album, which was titled #1 Record. The band adopted the name Big Star when one member was given the idea from a grocery store they often visited for snacks during recording sessions. One of many Big Star Markets outlets in the Memphis region at the time, it had a logo consisting of a five-pointed star enclosing the words "Big Star"; as well as the store's name, the band used its logo but without the word "Star" to avoid infringing copyright and they just put "Big" in it.
For the first time ever, last week I listened to the entire #1 Record album at Danny's suggestion, and I was utterly mesmerized by the incredible beauty that's there.
Gonna call it a night till next week, folks. This story is a classic, and I'm thanking Danny White for his input and advice in helping me put these stories together.
Y'all be sure to tune in tomorrow evening at 7 PM Eastern on Racers Reunion Radio for Racing Through History. It's Thee Goat Rodeo you don't want to miss! Thanks, I'll see y'all next week!